ON THIS DAY: 3 March 1845

Oyster Eaters by Jacob Lucasz Ochtervelt circa 1665-1669 Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

An advertisement appeared in The Times asking for an oyster dealer ‘who does not wash his hands in the same water as the oysters, and who is not fronted when civilly asked to wash them before he uses them to open the oysters’. Nowadays we associate oysters with champagne and luxury. But in the nineteenth century they … Read more